think that "K" is only worth something if you find it behind a number, e.g. 10K (hopefully €) 
( in German the diminutive of Norbert is sometimes Nobbi )
I am allright Jack
a bit off thread but, thank you Peter for the Urban Dictionary. About 15 years ago a friend of mine from Reunion who had been living for some years in London mentioned that my nickname had a special meaning in English. I never investigated it. Now I found it under "Names" in the Urban Dictionary ...
Nobbi
badass, amazing, overwhelming, incredible...etc...basically a superior being, or object. john:bro did you see that dude!??! (man jumping off of cliff doing flips) tom:yea man that was nobbi!! john:i know right! i wish i could be nobbi! tom: you can bro! just go ask him (the man) how he did it!
What a pity that I'm already 64 ...
(Do I have to change my name now?)
I would argue that we are not pushed out of larger airports for money, I would argue that few in our community can be sure of the real reason that we are pushed from the airports. I certainly don't, I am just looking at the information provided by the community and questioning it, because to me it doesn't make sense!
Unless you can get an airport manager who kicked out GA to openly state why (which is highly unlikely to happen because it would make him look in a very poor light) all you will get is anecdotal evidence...
At one UK airport, the manager calls piston GA "dirty". Well, yes, a C172 parked outdoors (the only option) for a few years will be dirty compared to Donald Trump's $50M jet. Not even an University of Upper Warlingham MBA holder should think that way, but evidently some do. So I think this is one factor - the glamour of jets and their glittery clients with designer handbags, etc. The solution? Build a dedicated GA terminal (a portacabin) a little distance away. Their cash is as good as anybody else's.
Another is the constant bickering from GA, organising which tends to be like herding cats. I don't know about Europe but in the UK there is a powerful "I am allright Jack" factor. People don't pull in the same direction. I think that comes from the constant pressure which GA is subjected to, from every direction. One got the same behaviour in communist countries where there was similar pressure on everybody just trying to live a simple life. In GA a "simple life" is a runway, a hangar, getting half decent maintenance done, and a reasonable security of tenure because most owner-pilots do not have another airport they can move to within a reasonable distance. So GA doesn't do itself many favours...
It may cost $10/ton, in direct cost. But what about indirect costs to the environment in the higher fossil fuel usage to transport the items, and then social costs in the local area of job losses and less people to purchase local items, or afford to fly for example, our accounting systems can not see that impact because of the way they are setup...
Well, sure, but one can't expect an individual company to care for that. Actually things are changing, the Chinese are getting fat and lazy, and a lot of work is being moved back from China which will in turn see a sizeable collapse in its small-company economy. Small firms are now going bust over there at a huge rate...
Next time somebody mentions pollution in relation to light aircraft, ask them how many children they have and whether the world would have less pollution if they'd chosen differently.
@Peter, yeah I agree with your statement but for me the flaw in that system is it looks purely financially at the actual gain/loss of the transaction and the individual. While ignoring anything non-tangible or difficult to account. It may cost $10/ton, in direct cost. But what about indirect costs to the environment in the higher fossil fuel usage to transport the items, and then social costs in the local area of job losses and less people to purchase local items, or afford to fly for example, our accounting systems can not see that impact because of the way they are setup...
Brining my argument back to an aviation setting, I think that the issue with airports forcing out GA is a symptom of an odd spiral down the plug hole that we find ourselves on. Airports provide jobs, however small, it may one manager and some cafe staff, but that is more that none. For me the problem with politicising the GA community is one that immediately becomes counter productive and seems to provide a one way ticket to demise.
As large airports push us out, and the managing businesses along with local politicians claim to have scored a victory over pollution and "rich boys" playing, it gives them cheap political points. What if for a second we looked at things from a different perspective - the airports encouraged us to come, their revenues would increase (€200 euros from 1 GA movement is far less than €20 euros from 50 GA movements), if regulation and maintenance regimes were sensible and affordable more people could afford to fly - the utility would go up.
But then maybe it is the airlines that are behind this, more people who fly themselves the less people who fly on the jets... but for the green lobby who say we pollute remember our thread on fuel consumption per seat per mile... made interesting reading that whatever the size of aircraft there was a magic figure that all seemed to align on.
So I would argue we are not polluting, well any more than any other mode of transport! I would argue that we are not pushed out of larger airports for money, I would argue that few in our community can be sure of the real reason that we are pushed from the airports. I certainly don't, I am just looking at the information provided by the community and questioning it, because to me it doesn't make sense!
Someone please explain to me the logistics behind how that can be cheaper unless something is seriously wrong with our accounting systems???
It seems bizzare, but bulk sea freight costs only of the order of $10/ton. The price you pay is that it takes 4 weeks...
As to why people do it... cheap labour in China. Actually that is changing. Yesterday I had a quote for some (complex) labels from there, at €0.77 each. That is the same as the UK. China is rapidly screwing itself.
the more I conclude that GA flying is becoming a POLITICAL ACTION.
I could not agree more. Sadly though, it's very visible to the general population and it is very easy for a politician/local businesses to win votes but taking down these "polluting, dirty and out-dated" fleet. No one looks at facts/figures anymore and it is all uninformed perception that rules.
What made my blood boil wrt to the political angle that we are faced with everyday, was an article I read about the amount of product transportation within some supply chains - this puts into perspective that we are a drop in the Ocean and actually don't annoy anyone.
How much damage do we do to local environments, compared to say transporting water from Europe to the US (apparently they don't have any); and in return from the US to Europe Ice-Tea products, (because here we don't have tea or fridges!)
Then the leather products that are made from US exported leather, transported to Brasil for tanning, transported to China to be made into items, and then reimported to the US, for me that was the shocking bit... Someone please explain to me the logistics behind how that can be cheaper unless something is seriously wrong with our accounting systems???
Sorry this is thread creep... maybe we should start a new one! :)
I was being handled, and the handler did keep warning me it would happen one day... :-(
E
Can one not do a deal with some based handling company, eal?
Here in Europe most things are possible via a handler - at a price. I could be based at Gatwick if I wanted to.
I am sure you know your "market" well, however...
I am especially thinking of #7 
